Whooping cough wave – pregnant women urged to get vaccinated

The summer wave of whooping cough continues. Since the beginning of May, the Public Health Agency has seen a sharp increase in the number of reported cases of whooping cough in Sweden.

Whooping cough is one A very serious disease for young children. It can be life-threatening for young children.

Therefore, the Public Health Agency recommends that pregnant women and infants be vaccinated, according to Läkemedelsvärlden. Pregnant women are vaccinated to protect the fetus. It is also important to protect unvaccinated children from infection.

The importance of vaccination Controlling whooping cough in pregnant women is a message that the Public Health Agency has repeatedly delivered, The latest in a press release on Thursday..

The number of whooping cough cases is increasing.

The high number of cases reported over the summer has not subsided, but continues to rise. It is at a “very high level,” the Public Health Agency wrote.

– The big increase The number of cases is also at very high levels compared to the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, Tina Crawford, head of the Vaccination Programmes Unit at the Public Health Agency, says in the press release.

Tina Crawford of the agency also says:

-There is one. As a result of the fact that the immunity in the population is lower now, after the pandemic, because we had much less prevalence of whooping cough during it.

Whooping cough is common in all parts of Sweden.

A total of 1,236 cases of whooping cough have been reported this year, including 109 cases among children under one year of age.

Only in August The agency recorded a total of 497 cases, including 35 in children under one year old. It's a grim record month. And when you look at the past eight years, the difference is significant.

The highest number of cases in the corresponding month during the time period was 2019, which amounted to 124 cases, According to statistics from the Public Health Authority.

The vast majority65 percent of cases were reported in the Stockholm, Skåne and Västra Götaland region.

But the spread of infection is present in all regions of Sweden.

The vaccine is free for children and pregnant women.

The Public Health Agency recommends whooping cough vaccination for pregnant women from August 2022. All regions offer the vaccine free of charge. It is included in the childhood vaccination programme. It is also free for pregnant women.

But what is it? Far from all pregnant women being vaccinated. The vaccination rate among pregnant women is estimated to be just over 60 percent, according to the Public Health Agency.

But as Lakimedelsvärden reported last year, regions vary in their speed of offering whooping cough vaccines to pregnant women to protect their newborns. It’s up to regions how they do it. Regions also took different amounts of time to offer the pregnancy vaccine for free. Some regions are still charging at the start.

Whooping cough is highly contagious.

Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory infection that can cause a long, annoying cough in adults and children.

The Public Health Authority confirms this. It is important to treat whooping cough quickly if an infant is suspected of having whooping cough, and it is important to treat quickly. This is to reduce the risk of serious illness.

Pregnant women and family members with a long-term cough should also be tested. If they are infected, they should be treated to reduce the risk of the baby being infected after birth.

Because the disease The Public Health Agency wrote that this is very serious and applies to both vaccinated and unvaccinated infants and pregnant women.